Carlisle solicitor's concern over falling duty lawyer numbers

Chris Toms has been a specialist duty lawyer for 30 years

Concerns have been raised by a solicitor about a reduction in the number of duty lawyers.

Chris Toms, a solicitor based in Carlisle said the number of duty lawyers there has fallen from 21 in 2007 to a current figure of 11.

He believed the number would be reduced to seven duty lawyers in the coming years as more solicitors retired.

The government said reforms to the sector were increasing criminal legal aid spending to £1.2bn a year.

Chris Toms, a partner at LT Law who has worked as a specialist duty lawyer for 30 years feared legal defence against injustice was being dismantled.

The Law Society said the number of duty solicitors had fallen by 1,446 since 2017 - a 26% reduction in numbers.

"I'm 60 years-old with a number of health issues and I will retire in the next seven years," said Mr Toms.

Everyone accused of a crime is entitled to receive independent legal advice.

In England and Wales, the Legal Aid system, funded by the government, pays for a bank of on-call duty solicitors organised around local police areas.

In December 2021 the government's own independent review told ministers that legal aid rates had been frozen for so long they had to immediately find at least £135m to inject into the system .

But the government pay settlement fell short of what ministers were advised to give the profession.

Free legal advice is provided to anyone brought in for questioning by police

The rate of duty lawyer call out fee which varies from area to area is £190 plus VAT in Carlisle.

It is not paid directly to the solicitor but to the firm they work for.

Mr Toms said: "My firm will receive the fee, from which the running costs of the office have to be deducted, along with payments for staff, IT hardware and software - all the things offices have.

"There are people walking around this county that I have saved from going to jail wrongly and that is something I'm very proud of.

"Every solicitor will have stories like that where their presence at the police station early on in an investigation has had an effect and almost certainly resulted in innocent people being acquitted.

"Whereas that might not be the case if there wasn't a duty lawyer, it's very important," Mr Toms added.

The Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "Reforms will put the sector on a sustainable footing - and that spending on criminal legal aid will increase to £1.2bn a year."

Chris Toms says he fears the legal aid system is being eroded